Experimental Thermal–Hydraulic Testing of a Mock-Up of the Fuel-Breeder Pin Concept for the EU-DEMO HCPB Breeding Blanket

The fusion program in the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) leads R&D DEMO helium-cooled pebble bed (HCPB) breeding blanket within work package (WPBB) Eurofusion Consortium European Union (EU). A new design HCPB breeder zone, with a layout inspired by nuclear reactor fuel rod arrangement, was developed recently and called fuel-breeder pin concept. In addition, mock-up (MU) this designed manufactured at KIT order to test validate its thermal–hydraulic performance. This paper reports on results first experimental campaign dedicated MU testing that performed Helium Loop (HELOKA) facility. presents: (i) integration into HELOKA loop including considerations set-up, (ii) an overview plan for campaigns, (iii) discussion focus aspects relevant validation zone.